Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of former U.S. president Barack Obama and his relationship to the Jewish community.
Barack Obama
The Latest
-
Life Offbeat Israel: Polling Israelis on Obama and Settlements
Every month, Tel Aviv University pollsters gauge Israeli public opinion, and the Bintel Blog closely follows the results. The latest poll, which was conducted last week just before Barack Obama’s speech, found that 55% of the Israeli public felt that the American president leans in favor of the Palestinians. Few Israelis, 5%, said that he…
-
Life On the Eve of Bibi’s U.S. Visit, Jewish Groups Fight it Out
There are only a few days left until Benjamin Netanyahu descends on Washington, and preparations within the Jewish community are in high gear. That means, of course, that it’s time for some inter-organizational fighting. The first question is who will get to meet Bibi. The Israeli embassy is putting together a list of 40 communal…
-
Life Offbeat Israel: Has Kiryat Gat Adopted the Iranian Flag?
If there was an Israeli “Obama Girl,” chances are that she would be approaching middle age. The American president may have been a big hit with young Americans, but in Israel, it’s apparently the young who are the most skeptical about him. Bar Ilan University, together with the Anti-Defamation League, have polled Israelis on their…
-
Life Was the White House Dog Named After a Torah Portion?
First, there’s a Seder in the White House. Then a dog named for a Torah portion? Given all the hubbub about the Obama’s new dog — a closely guarded secret that somehow was leaked over the weekend — it strikes some of us as more than curious to see the connection between the dog’s new…
-
Life To Iran, With Love — And Geopolitical Challenges
To commemorate the festival of Nowruz — marking the beginning of the Persian New Year — American President Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres have each recorded friendly messages, embedded with challenges, for the people of Iran. Obama, in his statement, also available with Farsi subtitles, said: The United States wants the Islamic Republic of…
-
Life In Israel, Change You Can Xerox
In advance of Tuesday’s election in Israel, candidates of various persuasions have shown no shame in cribbing from the storied presidential campaign of Barack Obama — regardless of their ideological similarities or differences with the American president, The Daily Beast reports. The Shas Party, whose constituency traditionally has been composed of Orthodox Sephardic Jews, has…
-
Life Obama and the Christian-Muslim-Jewish Nation
One staple of any great speech is that everyone hears it in a different way. For some, President Obama’s inaugural address was all about hope and optimism; for others, it was about the nation’s resilience. For the Zionist Organization of America’s Morton Klein, it was all about one sentence: “We are a nation of Christians…
-
Life Helen Suzman, Barack Obama, and 100 Years of Black-Jewish Relations
Helen Suzman, the Jewish anti-apartheid activist who died earlier this month, was long critical of South Africa’s organized Jewish community for its policy of political non-involvement during the apartheid years. When the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) gave her a humanitarian award in 2007, she accepted the honor with the words, “It’s about…
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Why saying ‘L’shana Tova’ on Rosh Hashanah may not be the correct phrase
- 2
Culture You can buy Sukkot gift boxes that say ‘tuchus’ on Amazon
- 3
Culture Hitler is trending on TikTok again — and they’re trying to make him seem like a nice guy
- 4
Film & TV Netflix finally gave Jews our Hot Rabbi. Too bad every other Jew in the show sucks
In Case You Missed It
-
Oct. 7: One Year Later Helpless and horrified: An oral history of 5 Jews in America on Oct. 7, 2023
-
Opinion I study the relationship between Zionism and Judaism. Oct. 7 may have changed it forever
-
Fast Forward Shofars blown along Ukrainian frontlines as part of Rosh Hashanah initiative for soldiers
-
Fast Forward 8 Israeli troops killed in Lebanon in first Israeli casualties of ground invasion
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism